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Friday, 13 November 2015

Ultha - ‘Pain Cleanses Every Doubt’ (Album Review)

By:
Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 31/7/2015

Label: Tartarus Records
(CS),

Ecocentric
Records (CD),

Vendetta
(LP)

Musically, Ultha fits in well alongside bands like Armagedda or
early Forgotten Tomb, not because they sound all that similar, but because they
have a similar emotional tone. Ultha’s metal is pitch black, without crossing
into Deathspell Omega-style chaos and dissonance. On the whole ‘Pain Cleanses Every Doubt’, offers
further evidence that as much as orthodox black metal is criticised for being
too conservative when it comes to incorporating new elements and trying new
things, there are still plenty of ways to be compelling and interesting.

‘Pain Cleanses Every Doubt’ CD//CS//DD//LP track
listing:

1.
Crystalline Pyre

2.
Perpetual Resurrection

3.
Death Created Time to Grow Things it Kills

4.
You Exist for Nothing

The Review:

‘Pain
Cleanses Every Doubt’ is a difficult album to review.
There’s a lot to like about this album, especially because this is only the
band’s debut and yet they have a sound like they’ve been playing together for
much longer than they have been. Ultha’s sound is
fully-realized, and it’s engrossing as hell. However, there is one key issue
that is most likely going to ultimately determine how you feel about the album:
how you feel about the vocals.

As
much as certain varieties of metal fans deride screaming vocals as either
sonically unappealing or for being the refuge of people who can’t sing; there
is a lot of technique that goes into making traditional black and death metal
vocals sound the way they need to. There’s also more variety to choose from
than is often considered. Abbath doesn’t sound
like Attila Csihar, or how Jon Nödtveidt
used to. Gaahl doesn’t sound like Pest. There are a variety styles and techniques involved,
even if the end result is harsh screaming one way or the other.

One
style that is particularly tough to accept is that which Varg Vikernes
used on the early Burzum albums. This
specific style is probably most common in depressive black metal, and was used
to almost comedic effect on Silencer’s‘Death - Pierce Me’. While C.’s vocals
are in a similar vein to those of Vikernes, they have a
certain restraint and harshness to them that will likely take away the negative
aspects for people who don’t care for that specific style. C. has found a way
to take a normally unpalatable shriek and show that it can work well with the
instrumental side of Ultha, just by
exercising some control over his voice. Combining that with R.’s deep-throated
roar makes for a compelling addition to Ultha’s overall sound.

Musically,
Ultha fits in well alongside bands like Armagedda or early Forgotten Tomb, not
because they sound all that similar, but because they have a similar emotional
tone. Ultha’s metal is pitch black, without
crossing into Deathspell Omega-style chaos and dissonance.
It also shares song writing sensibility with Sweden’s Shining,
though I fear Shining in 2015 is kind of a caricature of
itself, as opposed to being an exciting and interesting band as they were
around the time of ‘III’ and ‘IV’. Ultha has
more in common with Shining at its most
interesting, when the band was less a promotional vehicle for Kvarforth and more of a band taking a somewhat standard
black metal style and breathing new life into it.

On
‘Pain Cleanses Every Doubt’, Ultha offers further evidence that as much as orthodox black
metal is criticised for being too conservative when it comes to incorporating
new elements and trying new things, there are still plenty of ways to be
compelling and interesting. Ultha does this through
being dynamic and knowing that if you’re working within narrow musical
confines, seemingly small choices can make a big difference when you pay
attention to detail.

Pain Cleanses
Every Doubt’ is available on digital or cassette
copy here, CD here and vinyl here

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